Auckland International Airport’s slower path to another runway weighed on the country’s major gateway as it dragged the S&P/NZX 50 index lower, going against the tide across Asia.
Investors were generally more upbeat from the latest White House missive as US President Donald Trump was reportedly softening the impact of his tariff regime on US automakers.
Meanwhile, Mark Carney’s Liberals are projected to stay in power in Canada as the former central banker ran successfully on an anti-Trump campaign, north of the border.
And back home, commercial landlords got some close attention with Precinct Properties NZ, Kiwi Property Group, Goodman Property Trust and Stride Property Group all notching heavy trading volumes.
Unknown unknowns
The NZX50 fell 73.44 points, or 0.6%, to 12,025.45, snapping three days of gains as investors remain torn as to where the world will end up with the US tariff regime hanging over global growth. Among the top 50, there were 25 gainers and 20 decliners, while five stocks were unchanged.
“The big risk for me is the uncertainty, because people don’t know what to think,” said Mark Lister, investment director at Craigs Investment Partners. “They’re still playing a very dangerous game on tariffs when people don’t know where the endgame is.”
The US tariff regime came back into focus during the Asian trading session after the Wall Street Journal reported Trump plans to prevent tariffs stacking on top of import levies for the auto sector, meaning they won’t be charged for other duties on the likes of steel or aluminium.
Meanwhile, the kiwi dollar traded at 82.50 Canadian cents at 5pm in Auckland from 82.65 cents yesterday after Mark Carney’s Liberal party was projected to remain in government, although it was less clear whether it will be with a parliamentary majority.
Carney was drafted in to replace long-serving prime minister Justin Trudeau to revive the party’s flagging popularity, and campaigned squarely on rebuffing an increasingly activist southern neighbour in the form of Trump's second term.
The kiwi traded at 59.51 US cents from 59.67 cents yesterday.
Stocks across Asia were broadly stronger, with Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index up 0.8% in late trading and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index up 0.4%, while futures markets were pointing to a 0.1% increase for the S&P 500.
Lagging kiwi
New Zealand was among the worst performers as Auckland Airport dropped 2.9% to $7.78 after the hub released a new master plan outlining its vision for the future, which included a slower institution of a second runway, pushing that out 10 years to 2038.
Air New Zealand advanced 0.9% to 59 cents, while Tourism Holdings increased 1.4% to $1.46 and Serko advanced 2.6% to $3.50.
Apple exporter Scales Corp fell 2.6% to $4.09 and Summerset Group Holdings declined 2.6% to $11.02.
Oceania Healthcare posted the biggest gain on the NZX50, up 3.2% at 64 cents, while retailer KMD Brands advanced 3% to 34.5 cents.
Trading was busier than usual, with turnover of $161.2 million across the main board, with commercial landlords attracting heavy volumes.
Precinct Properties again traded on the biggest volume at 11.3 million as it rose 1.9% to $1.075, while Kiwi Property decreased 0.6% to 83 cents with 6.8 million shares changing hands. Goodman Property gained 1.1% to $1.87 on a volume of 4.6 million and Stride was unchanged at $1.11 on a volume of 4.3 million.
Rakon extended its rally for a second day, climbing 16% to 57 cents, while Pacific Edge recovered some of yesterday’s losses as it rose 10%, or 0.9 of a cent, to 9.6 cents after getting a favourable draft reimbursement rate on one of its products.
Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Sébastien Goldberg on Unsplash.
